New Energy Provider Gave Incorrect Readings to Old Provider. Now Charging for Energy Not Used

catchin

Martin, I hope you can help. I used to be with Tonik, when they ceased trading I was placed in the interim period with Scottish Power. Once I received their welcome pack I went to your comparison site and found Shell to be better value for the amount of energy I use. I took meter readings as requested, on 18th December and passed them to a Shell agent working from home. I thought no more about it until I received a bill from Scottish Power for £166, which I knew to be too high as I only have the heating on 3 hrs a day.  I have since discovered from Scottish Power, that both the electric and gas meter readings submitted by Shell Energy as a final bill were totally incorrect. In fact on 4 January, 4 weeks after leaving Scottish Power (whom I was with for 6 weeks), I took my second set of meter readings for Shell and at that point, I still hadn't consumed the amounts of energy they had submitted to Scottish Power as a final bill. I have spent over 10 hrs queuing and talking with Scottish Power and Shell Energy agents, followed by numerous emails. How can I get this resolved? I am a pensioner on my own and this is wearing me down.

Gerry1

Shouldn't be much of a problem provided that the closing reading for Scottish Power is the same as the opening reading for Shell.

My opening reading is wrong

maisie_cat

Does the closing reading from the final bill with the old supplier and the opening from the new supplier match? Is it also possible that the closing Tonik reading was incorrect? 6 weeks isn't long for the algorithm to get up to speed.
I've had the same situation several times over the years and as long as the 2 readings match you are not paying twice for the same usage. Unless the tariffs are very different the value difference might not be that much. The last time it happened to me the actual difference between the "correct" reading and the one the energy companies used amount to £5 or £6 so I left it.

EggEdd

Don't be put off pursuing this. Scottish Power calculated my gas usage for November and December at £1000. That's more than I spent with Tonik for all energy in a year. Their Gas meter reading was wildly wrong by 38,000 Kwh. I accessed my closing reading from the Tonik Energy web site (it's still working), and they refunded straight away.
TIP: Use the Scottish Power telephone "call back" feature. It saves waiting. 

MWT

The reading you gave to Shell are passed on to a 3rd party for review and if they think fit, adjustment.

Those adjusted readings are then returned to the losing and gaining suppliers and they both use then for your final bill and you new opening reading.

As long as both are using the same readings you are only paying for your energy once.

If the difference between the readings you gave Shell and the adjusted readings is high enough you can request that they are changed, but just how much of a difference was there? (in kWh for the electric and m3/100ft3 for gas)